Concord Township trustees OK proposal for new comprehensive plan

With its steering committee formed and a consultant hired, Concord Township trustees have their eyes set on drafting and approving an updated comprehensive plan before Jan. 1, 2015.

Trustees approved a proposal from Cleveland-based Northstar Planning and Design for $34,000 at its organizational meeting this week. Trustees chose the least expensive of the five firms who responded to the township’s request for proposals last month. The highest price was $54,000.

“The consultant is going to come to Concord, meet the trustees, meet the staff, do a tour of the township and get their arms fully around of what we have here,” Trustee Chris Galloway said. “And also, we, the trustees, and staff will give them our expectations.”

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After that, meetings for members of the comprehensive plan’s steering committee will start later in the month, Galloway said. Trustees appointed members of the steering committee at Thursday’s meeting.

Trustees noted that this committee is almost half the size of 2004’s steering committee of 20 members.

“This committee was designed like this because the last process took nearly two years and was too expensive,” said Galloway, who served on the 2004 committee. “In an effort to streamline it and reduce the costs on this once-a-decade event, we went with the folks on our zoning boards, primarily.”

In the newest plan, local leaders intend to tackle economic development across the township and most specifically in the Auburn-Crile Road Business Corridor that is slated for a road makeover in the summer of 2015.

Trustees also approved a package of nearly across-the-board raises for non-elected employees. The package includes a 3 percent increase to workers in the service and fire departments according to their contracts, said Fiscal Officer Amy Dawson. In addition, almost every employee at the community center, administration and zoning department were awarded raises of 1.5 percent, 3 percent, 4 percent or 5 percent.

Concord Township unofficially finished 2013 with $7.8 million in its coffers, $4 million of which is tied to capital improvement projects, Dawson said.

About the Author

Simon Husted joined the News-Herald in February 2013. The Buffalo native and Kent State graduate covers schools and community issues in Fairport Harbor, Perry Township, Perry Village, North Perry, Madison Township and Madison Village. Reach the author at shusted@news-herald.com
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